Turtles, Turtles...

Painted Turtle

It was going to be a hot day today, so tried to get to the park at a decent hour. 7:45 a.m and it was already 71 degrees and sunny.

The gardens have been fairly quiet. I'm happy to see that we have several milkweed plants coming up and hopefully that will help the monarch butterflies.

Moonwort

I heard a few yellow warblers, and saw robins, song sparrows, orioles, blue jays, catbirds and house wrens - nothing terribly unusual. The multi-flora invasive roses are in bloom. They actually have a wonderful fragrance and the bees were loving it.

There was a warbling vireo down near the soccer field and a female mallard in the pond. A mourning dove flew by.

Turtles on a log in the river

My big excitement was finding the moonwort that Don L. showed us on a walk a few years ago for the June Doin' event. I've been looking for it the last few weeks and it finally appeared. It's not up for long!

Red-winged blackbird

Down by the river were two turtles on a log and then surprisingly in Woodcock meadow was the painted turtle pictured above, left just sitting in the dry grass. I was a little worried about it's location and if it was alright, but I'm hoping it knows what it's doing and I left it alone.

A young red-winged blackbird sang from a tree in the meadow. The meadow is looking really good with all the work that's been done, but there is lots more to do. We appreciate all that Katherine Howard and the Newton Conservators and Friends of Nahanton Park volunteers have done!